"Apologize for what? The truth is, I still don't understand you at all."
Frieren looked at him with a complicated expression, then glanced at the purple-haired girl who was copying Sein and piling up a grave.
"Fern probably doesn't either."
"You understand Fern?", Ash's voice rose without him meaning to.
Frieren narrowed her eyes slightly, "Are you looking down on me?"
"..."
"What's with that face?"
"No, please don't mind it."
At the end of the topic, he quietly turned his face away, not intending to comment on that matter.
But Frieren tilted her head up and stared at him. Lately, she had wanted even more than before to figure out what exactly this person was thinking.
———
After that brief episode, they continued on their way.
While Sein went into a village as usual to ask about his close friend's whereabouts, Ash noticed a mage sitting by the fence at the village entrance, someone he hadn't really seen much of on the road in recent years.
The girl had dark green hair tied into a distinctive side ponytail. She wore a black dress that traced the curves of her figure just right.
It wasn't overly flashy, nor was it deliberately modest. It moved between revealing and reserved, showing a kind of balanced beauty that was hard to describe.
At least the neckline was much higher than a low-cut dress. Even though she had a good figure, Ash couldn't really see much.
Bracelets decorated her arms, and bands wrapped around her full thighs. Instead of looking out of place, they added a unique charm.
Her purple eyes should have been beautiful, but they were dead-fish eyes, carrying obvious laziness and indifference. The atmosphere around her was also different from ordinary mages. Clearly—
"She feels like a dangerous person," After observing her for a while, Ash was basically certain she was the one who had taken out the bandits earlier.
After all, she was the only mage they had encountered along the way.
He muttered that to himself, then yawned and sat on the nearby fence, staring at the sky absentmindedly.
He had just started thinking about whether he should train his magic a bit while the others were in the village buying supplies and asking questions when the girl noticed him.
Without making a sound, she came and sat beside him, leaning forward and looking up at him from below.
"What are you doing?"
"You know, talking about someone being dangerous behind their back?"
The girl sized him up with a malicious smile.
"I said it to your face. And it's true, isn't it?"
"There are truths you can say and truths you can't. Especially when you say them in front of someone. After all—"
Before she finished, Ash slapped a hand over her face and pushed her backward in one motion.
Caught off guard, she toppled over the fence and landed flat on her back on the grass behind it, only her calves still resting on the fence.
"So it's black," Because of the angle, he couldn't help noticing what was under her skirt. He was slightly surprised, then thoughtfully pulled her skirt down to cover what had been exposed in the sunlight.
Then—
BANG!
Without warning, an invisible slash cut across his arm.
However, it only sliced through his sleeve. It bounced off his skin and dissolved into magic particles, scattering like tiny stars.
The girl, still lying there with all four limbs up, forgot what she was about to do next. Her eyes slowly widened as she stared at his uninjured arm in disbelief.
Ash calmly asked, "What are you doing to a gentleman? Aren't you afraid of karma?"
"Shouldn't that be my line? Since when does a gentleman shove a girl over and then… stare so carefully?"
"First, I wasn't staring carefully. I only glanced."
Since he was bored anyway, he argued calmly.
"Second, I pushed you because Fern and the others are in the village. If they see me chatting with some strange girl, my reputation will drop again. And honestly, if they weren't about to come out, and since I'm such a gentle and kind person, you'd already be dead."
"Haha~ That's scary. But..."
The girl slowly sat up, brushed off her skirt, and crouched nearby, resting her chin on her hands as she stared at him with a faint smile.
"Someone who says things like that doesn't sound very gentlemanly or gentle and kind, does he?"
"Being gentle and kind doesn't mean letting people bully you."
"Forget that. Why is your hand fine?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought I could definitely cut it."
"What a coincidence. I definitely thought you couldn't."
Facing this strangely smiling girl, Ash returned a bright, innocent smile, like a cheerful boy in the sun.
Magic was a world of imagination. But imagination still depended on the spells a person created and their control over magic.
Her cutting spell was clearly refined. Even Frieren would praise it.
But the defensive spells Ash had set on himself were... even more refined.
They went beyond her imagination of what her spell could reach. Or perhaps when their imaginations clashed, hers simply lost.
Ash's matter-of-fact reply was something she had never experienced before. The girl froze for a moment.
Even when Ash stopped paying attention to her, she suddenly burst into laughter beside him.
"Haha! Interesting~ You're so interesting! You're clearly more dangerous than me, yet you call me dangerous? You thought I couldn't do it, and I actually couldn't? So interesting!"
As she spoke, her red tongue slowly licked her lips. After staring at him in a dazed way for a while, she suddenly extended her hand with a bright smile.
"Almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ubel. And you, mister?"
"You just tried to cut off my hand, and now you're introducing yourself?"
"Didn't I show you my underwear as compensation?"
"You showed it to me?"
"Now that you mention it, you did shove me over and look openly, didn't you? In that case, even if your hand had been cut off, it would've been your own fault. You could even say I was holding back."
The girl, Ubel, smiled sweetly at him.
And he couldn't really refute that.
In this world, life wasn't worth much. People could die in a casual sparring match. But…
"What a shame. You're not my opponent at all. So this isn't you holding back. It's me holding back."
He glanced at her still-outstretched hand.
"By the way, doesn't your arm get tired?"
"Isn't it because you haven't shaken it? Or do you want to let a lady keep her hand out like this? Or…"
"Or what?"
"Do you want another look… at that?"
Ubel lightly shook her skirt again. The smile in her eyes deepened.
Ash considered it briefly and nodded casually, "If you insist on showing me, I don't mind looking."
"Haha~ You're really interesting. But do you really think I'd let you see?"
"The human heart is the hardest thing to predict. And I don't like uncertainty."
"So you're giving up?"
"No. I'm just helping you remove the uncertain factors. Like this."
While she was still shaking her skirt, he suddenly reached up and lifted it himself.
The sudden cool air under her skirt made Ubel freeze.
He finally grabbed her hand.
"I'm Ash. Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping me pass the time. You've fulfilled your role now. You can go home."
"Shall I kill you?"
After a long moment of stiffness, Ubel tilted her head and showed a broken, eerie smile. Magic surged around her.
Invisible slashes shot toward him from all directions.
But… Even without seeing their paths, Ash's defensive magic was enough to turn them into scattered particles that vanished in midair, just like before.
A trident-shaped staff appeared in Ubel's hand. She thrust it toward his face.
Yet Ash didn't even rise from the fence. He simply flicked a finger.
Clang!
With a metallic sound, overwhelming force traveled through the staff. It flew out of her hand, spinning into the air.
Disarmed in an instant, Ubel finally gave up her anger and let her hands drop.
"You… really are some kind of monster."
"Thank you."
"What?", Ubel narrowed her eyes.
Ash shrugged casually, "In every sense."
"I'll kill you."
"You can't."
"Honestly, this is the first time I've been this angry."
She said that, but since she truly couldn't do anything about him, she sat beside him again. For some reason, her dark smile returned.
"You suggested it yourself. Don't blame me."
"Does anyone normally lift someone's skirt?"
"You suggested it," Ash said calmly. He had no intention of taking responsibility.
Ubel's smile twitched, "Where did your so-called gentlemanly manners and pride as the strong go?"
"I believe in gender equality. This is just fair exchange."
"Just saying your name is equal to a girl's purity?"
"You suggested it, not me. That question should be directed at yourself."
Ash's offhand answer left Ubel completely speechless.
For the first time in her life, she suffered total defeat in magic, physical combat, and words.
For the first time ever, she even felt regret about her own actions.
Regret that she had spoken to him in the first place.
———
When Sein returned after getting some clues, he saw from a distance that there was a strange girl beside Ash.
The girl, with her back to him, seemed to be saying something while shaking her skirt. Then Ash seemed to lift it.
Yes. It only seemed that way. [T/N: LMAO!]
After all, her back was to him. And Ash's calm expression didn't look like someone lifting a skirt.
But judging from the girl's rather extreme reaction afterward, he guessed Ash probably really had lifted it.
He stood there stunned for quite a while before finally walking over, staring at Ash with a serious expression.
"I really… misjudged you!"
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
"I thought you were like me! Only into older women!"
Sein looked betrayed, accusing his companion of making a move on a young girl.
Ash covered his face, looking like he was enduring a headache.
Even Ubel, who was already a bit strange, froze for a moment. She had met plenty of weird people on her travels, but… a priest who liked older women was a first.
"Your friend is interesting. So you like older women? No wonder you're so cold to me."
"Forget that. Aren't you leaving yet?"
"I actually love chatting."
Ignoring his coldness, Ubel cheerfully continued talking about something he hadn't even asked.
"A person's magic often reflects their life and personality. And me~ if I can resonate with someone's life, I can basically use their special magic. You must have some incredible magic~ Don't be stingy. Tell me how you think and what kind of life you've lived?"
"The type that controls magic by feeling?"
Ash finally understood why she was still pestering him even after failing to beat him. He was slightly surprised.
Her ability required not only great talent but also solid theory and magic power. With extraordinary senses and imagination, even without knowing the principles, she could resonate with someone's personality and life.
Through that resonance, she could grasp the essence of their magic. And complete the replication process.
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